On The Turkey Trail looks for answers about habitatRecently I read some conflicting information regarding turkey populations and habitat loss in Arkansas, so I decided to try to make some sense of it and hopefully pass on my findings to you. As an Arkansas licensed forester and forestry consultant with more than 25 years of forestry experience and training (possibly educated beyond my common sense), I have some practical experience in habitat management. I was a landowner assistance forester w...

A house divided will soon talk trashSunday’s playoff game between the Greenbay Packers and the San Fransico 49ers was the playoff match-up I’d hoped for ever since the Packers’ 34-28 loss to the Niners in Week 1. Worse, I’d looked forward to said Week 1 game all summer because guess who bumped Green Bay from the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs by a score of 45-31 last year? And guess who beat them in the 2012 season opener, 30-22? Now to further set the stage, can you guess...

Other NFL players cite lack of leaders in Miami ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Eleven seasons into his football career, Washington Redskins linebacker Nick Barnett figures he has a pretty good sense of the sort of teasing and hazing and horsing around that happens in the typical NFL locker room, especially when it comes to rookies. They’re stuck with $5,000 dinner tabs. They’re told to tote the helmets or pads of older players. They’re held down and given unwanted haircuts or get their eyebrows shaved...

Owners of Cowboys, 49ers aid school LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The owners of two NFL teams with ties to the same all-boys Arkansas parochial school announced Thursday they and an anonymous donor had pledged nearly $10 million to a school fundraising campaign that will pay for modernized classrooms, an updated athletic field and air conditioning. San Francisco 49ers owner John York graduated from Little Rock’s Catholic High School in 1967, and the sons of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones...

Bud Selig says he will retire in January 2015 NEW YORK (AP) — Bud Selig took over a sport with $1.7 billion in revenue, four teams in each year’s postseason, economic disparity among the clubs and a fixation on sticking with traditions that dated to the 19th century. After a decade of maintaining his departure was imminent, the 79-year-old baseball commissioner put his exit plans in writing Thursday and said in a statement he will retire in January 2015 after 22 years — the second-longest...

Cook finds success in bodybuilding eventsDARDANELLE — When Jana Cook began competing in bodybuilding events, she had no idea she’d take second place in the bikini division of the Jackson Classic in Jackson, Tenn. — her first time out the gate in 2011. Since then she has gone on to finish second in the National Physique Committee (NPC) Battle of the Bluff in Tunica, Miss., won the Northwest Classic in Bentonville in the bikini and figure division, and most recently third in the bikini...

DA: Charges won't be filed against Scottie Pippen LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scottie Pippen won't face criminal charges for a fight with a man who authorities say was drunk when he demanded an autograph and photo with the former Chicago Bulls star, then faked seizures after claiming Pippen punched him in the face. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office said Tuesday there was insufficient evidence to bring assault charges against Pippen for the altercation with Camran Shafighi at Nobu, a re...

Royals INF Tejada suspended 105 games for PED use KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The scourge of drugs and baseball claimed its third former MVP in a month when Miguel Tejada was suspended Saturday for 105 games after testing positive for an amphetamine. The Kansas City Royals infielder drew one of the longest penalties handed down by Major League Baseball. His ban came after Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez was suspended for 211 games and Brewers star Ryan Braun got a 65-game penalty that will keep hi...

Fan who fell to his death knew Braves stadium well ATLANTA (AP) — Lifetime Atlanta Braves fan Ronald Lee Homer Jr. knew the stadium where he fell to his death well. He attended three or four games a month at Turner Field and watched as many televised games as he could, his father said. He always had on a Braves hat. On Monday night, Homer, 30, was waiting out a rain delay in a fourth-level smoking area with a 42-inch railing that would have come up to the 6-foot-6 fan’s midsection. He’d told h...

Corliss leaving UCA, heading back to SacramentoCONWAY (AP) — Corliss Williamson says he's accepted an assistant coaching position with the Sacramento Kings. Now the coach at Central Arkansas, Williamson was drafted by the Kings as the 13th overall pick in 1995. The former Arkansas Razorback All-American spent seven seasons in Sacramento. Williamson confirmed his hiring Thursday night to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He says he told the Central Arkansas team Thursday night and that it was ...

O.J. Simpson regrets going after memorabilia CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — O.J. Simpson went before a parole board Thursday and pleaded for leniency on his armed robbery and kidnapping sentence as he expressed regret for his actions and described being an upstanding inmate who earns pennies an hour keeping gym equipment sanitized and umpiring and coaching games in the prison yard. Simpson also said he has become a counselor of sorts to fellow inmates doing time for similar crimes and noted th...

A-Rod wants to be activated; Yankees refuse NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Rodriguez’s already strained relationship with the New York Yankees hit another low when he pushed to be activated from the disabled list Friday, the team refused and he had a lawyer join the discussion of his injury rehabilitation. Already a target of Major League Baseball’s drug investigation, the third baseman angered the Yankees when he obtained a second medical opinion on his strained left quadriceps this week without...

TCW offers Rumble Riot in ClarksvilleCLARKSVILLE — On the horizen of Traditional Championship Wrestling’s (TCW) second annual Rumble Riot on Saturday at the Marvin Vinson Center, the company has signed its second television deal in as many months. TCW signed with Cox Sports Television (CST) in June for a one-hour high-definition show at 11 p.m. every Friday. Less than a month later, the organization signed a second deal with the Pursuit Channel for a one-hour show which will air ...

Before arrest, Hernandez had brushes with violence BOSTON (AP) — As former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez sits in a private cell for his protection, a portrait is emerging of a man whose life away from the field included brushes with violence that started as long ago as his freshman year at the University of Florida. Details of a series of altercations and gun incidents linked to the Pro Bowler have surfaced since Hernandez was arrested June 26 in the death of a semi-pro footba...

Conn. man arraigned in ex-Patriot’s murder case ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — An arrested man from former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez’s hometown was transferred to Massachusetts on Friday to face a gun charge connected to the murder case against Hernandez while a third suspect surrendered to authorities in Florida. Carlos Ortiz, who lives in Bristol, Conn., and Ernest Wallace, who walked into a South Florida police station, were the men identified earlier as being with Hernande...

Hernandez is denied bail in Mass. murder case FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — A judge on Thursday denied bail for former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a friend. Hernandez’s lawyer argued that Hernandez is not a risk to flee and the case against him is circumstantial. But a prosecutor said the evidence is “overwhelming.” A search of a Hummer belonging to Hernandez turned up an ammunition clip matching the caliber o...

Pro football player Hernandez charged with murder ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder in the shooting death of a friend prosecutors say had angered the NFL player at a nightclub a few days earlier by talking to the wrong people. Hernandez, 23, was taken from his North Attleborough home in handcuffs just over a week after Boston semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd’s bullet-riddled body was found in an industrial ...

Vitale on Rams Leadership BoardST. LOUIS — Russellville native Paul Vitale has received the honor of being named to the inaugural Leadership Board for the newly formed St. Louis Rams Training Academy. During two recent Rams’ community events, Vitale was enlisted to kick off the opening ceremonies for the NFL franchise’s fifth annual Playground Build as well as motivate student athletes during the 2013 NFL High School Player Development Camp at Festus High School. Vitale is ...

LeBron leads Heat to second straight title MIAMI (AP) — LeBron James and the Miami Heat remain atop the NBA, and not even a proud push from the San Antonio Spurs could knock them down. James led the Heat to their second straight title, scoring 37 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in a 95-88 victory Thursday night in a tense Game 7 that was tight until Miami pulled away in the final minute. Winning the title they needed to validate the best season in franchise history — and perhaps the th...

Oaklawn Park plans 58,000-square-foot expansion HOT SPRINGS (AP) — The Hot Springs Planning Commission is scheduled to vote this week on a 58,000-square-foot expansion of Oaklawn Park’s gaming area. Oaklawn General Manager Eric Jackson says the plan is separate from the racetrack’s previous expansion, which was completed in May 2009. Jackson told the Sentinel-Record that Oaklawn has seen “organic growth” since the state legalized electronic gambling machines at racetracks in Hot Springs and...